Transdermal Delivery of Desmopressin Acetate from Waterin Oil Nano/submicron Emulsion Systems

Desmopressin acetate is a potent synthetic peptide hormone. A more acceptable route of Desmopressin acetate is a potent synthetic peptide hormone. That is administered via parenteral, intranasal, and oral routes. A more acceptable route of administration with potentially good bioavailability could be offered by transdermal delivery. The present work reports on the development of waterinoil (w/o) microemulsions for the transdermal administration of desmopressin acetate. A waterinoil nano/submicron emulsions for transdermal administration of desmopressin developed. Its skin penetration profiles determined using Franzdiffusion cell. Pseudoternary phase diagrams for emulsion regions constructed. Effects of hydrophiliclipophilic balance (HLB), ratio of surfactants and cosurfactant mixture to oil phase (S_mix/oil), and ratio of surfactants to cosurfactant (S/Cs) on skin flux evaluated. Skin flux was increased when S/Cs and Smix/oil were decreased, and HLB was increased. Optimized formulation was obtained as: HLB=8, S/Cs=3 and S_mix/oil=5.4, with average particle size of 69nm. The optimized nano/submicron emulsions increased desmopressin skin flux 4.45 fold relative to drug solution.